Constitutional law is a body of law dealing with the distribution and exercise of government power.

Not all nation states have codified constitutions, though all such states have a jus commune, or law of the land, that may consist of a variety of imperative and consensual rules. These may include customary law, conventions, statutory law, judge-made law or international rules and norms, etc.

Functions of constitutions

State and legal structure

Constitutional laws may often be considered second order rulemaking or rules about making rules to exercise power. It governs the relationships between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive with the bodies under its authority. One of the key tasks of constitutions within this context is to indicate hierarchies and relationships of power. For example, in a unitary state, the constitution will vest ultimate authority in one central administration and legislature, and judiciary, though there is often a delegation of power or authority to local or municipal authorities. When a constitution establishes a federal state, it will identify the several levels of government coexisting with exclusive or shared areas of jurisdiction over lawmaking, application and enforcement.

Quotes related to Constitutional law.

• "A law can be both economic folly and constitutional." ~ Antonin Scalia

• "I have three degrees in history and only one in law, but since I came back to specialize in constitutional law where history is so essentially a part and an explanation of much that exists, the two disciplines blended very well." ~ Frank Scott

• "One country, one constitution, one destiny." ~ Daniel Webster, Speech, March 15, 1837.

• "The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare and to liberty. But there is a higher law than the Constitution." ~ William H. Seward, Speech, March 11, 1850.

• "The Court is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution." ~ Byron R. White

• "The current constitutional law places the president of the republic in an embarrassing situation." ~ Jose Eduardo Dos Santos